Bodhidharma to Shaolin: Origins of Popular Martial Arts

Ask anyone you know and they'll tell you that they took or take martial arts or they know someone that did or does. Martial arts of all kinds flourish in the United States and across the world. But how did it all start? In this article I will give a very brief overview of the martial arts and some of the origins of the styles that you see out there today.

It should be noted that much of this will be in generalities and should be viewed as the stuff of legend. The reason for this is that much of the origins of martial arts is shrouded in mystery on purpose. Think of this: if someone knows the origins of your style then they can further develop ways to defeat you. But, most of what is listed is considered by many to be the more popular views as to martial arts origins.

1) General origins: Many different sources will tell you that the origins of today's martial arts stem from the Bodhidharma, an Indian monk that traveled to China to spread his beliefs. It is said that the Shaolin monks of China adapted many of the martial skills taught by the Bodhidharma. The Shaolin monks used these skills to allow their bodies to develop as well as their psychological and medidational skills. The monks also developed different fighting styles according to movements and attack methods that they observed from animals. For example, you may hear of Praying Mantis Shaolin; it's movements emulate those of a praying mantis.

From Shaolin, many different styles developed, according to teacher and climate.

2) Further evolutions: many different continued evolutions in styles took place because of climate and landscape. For example, Tae-Kwon-Do, which is a Korean martial art, came from wide open planes and was used against opponents on horseback and on flat even footing. So, Tae-Kwon-Do took the idea of using the most powerful striking weapon, the foot, and applying attacks with the foot as much as possible. Tae-Kwon-Do is high flying and relatively flashy.

On the other hand, grappling styles can be seen in colder climates. For example, the Russian Sambo is well known for grappling submissions, particularly submissions on the leg areas.

Other styles like Japanese Karate stemmed from a naturally warring culture and continued to evolve into non-war times, adapting to more of a "sports" style. Once this format was accomplished, students could train longer and learn more skills without killing or maiming each other.

3) Evolutions due to instructors: there are many hundreds of notable instructors that have taken the styles presented them and truly caused amazing transformations and developments. I am going to probably greatly annoy many stylists by only talking about two specific revolutionaries. Please understand, I mean no disrespect to your style by not listing out your instructor of origin here, if I didn't mention them, but I only have so much space and can only grasp the readers' attention span for so long.

Bruce Lee: I would be completely remiss in not mentioning Bruce Lee in any article about martial arts. Master Lee took previously forbidden Chinese and Japanese skills and taught them to main stream Americans. His style, Jeet-Kun-Do, is a continually adapting style, much as Master Lee was. Although Jeet-Kun-Do (JKD) has many roots in Chinese Wing Chun, Bruce realized that American Boxing's jab could be devastating to the trapping hands in Wing Chun, so he adapted. Bruce adapted continually, adding bits and pieces from different styles. JKD is like this today as a fitting admonishment of Bruce's legacy.

Helio Gracie: the Ultimate Fighting Challenge (UFC) would not be what it is today without Helio Gracie. But let us take a step back to cover the origins of Gracie Jiujitsu (sometimes also considered Brazilian Jiujitsu).

Carlos Gracie, Helio's bigger and more boisterous brother, as part of a political deal, was able to become trained in Japanese Judo. Carlos was quite good, and began eventually to instruct on his own. One day, he was unable to make the class and asked Helio to instruct. Helio leaped to the challenge as he had been watching Carlos instruct for some time. But when Helio taught, he adapted the style to suit his size, and directed this to the students. His students asked to continue to learn from Helio and a legend was born.

Today, Brazilian Jiujitsu has become main stream, but it can still be traced backed to the Gracies. For example, my instructor learns from William Vandry, who learns from Carlos Machado. The Machado's are cousins to the Gracies; Carlos Machado learned directly from Carlos Gracie Jr. Lineages like this can be seen today throughout the fighting world, but especially when talking about Brazilian Jiujitsu.

Although this article has left out many styles, it has given a brief overview of some of the more well known styles. Of course, arts like Pancrase (Greek in origin; one of the early submission fighting styles) and Capoeria (break-dancing comes from Capoeria; no blocks, only evasive maneuvers and attacks; designed to look like dancing) and too many others to mention have specific roots that would be difficult to trace to the Bodhidharma, if not impossible.

If you do begin a martial art on your own, investigate. Find out it's origins. It may give you a much greater appreciation for what you are learning than you could have otherwise imagined.